Don’t Miss These 8 Offers of 50,000 Points or More

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This is sort of an embarrassment of riches in the miles and points space, it doesn’t take a ton of spending or a lot of time to earn travel rewards. Credit card signup are still one of the best ways to quickly earn lots of miles and points to travel quickly.

The most valuable points, at the top of my currency list, are transferrable points. That means especially American Express and Chase points. You can transfer those into a variety of programs. Earning those gives you tremendous flexibility and optionality.

Here are (8) offers of 50,000 points or more to seriously consider signing up for:

Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card has an 80,000 point signup bonus after $5000 spend within 3 months. That can even be enough for a roundtrip business class award ticket between the US and Europe. (Chase points are super valuable because they transfer directly to a variety of airlines and hotels.)

It earns 3 points per dollar on travel — that’s airlines, hotels, rental cars, tolls, even Uber — and 3 points per dollar on shipping and advertising on social media and search engines, so great for anyone who advertises on Facebook or Twitter, or who spends money advertising with Google. It also comes with $600 protection against theft or damage when you use it to buy your cell phone. ‘5/24’ applies.

With a $0 annual fee the first year, then $95, I suggest that as the number on card to get started with in miles and points. Get Sapphire Reserve later, perhaps, the card’s annual fee makes this the one to get first.

Points transfer to United, Hyatt, Southwest, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air, Air France KLM, Marriott Rewards, IHG Rewards Club, and Ritz-Carlton. Probably the best all-around credit card, certainly for getting started in the hobby, and with a great signup bonus.

The card earns two points on travel and dining at restaurants and 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases worldwide. The card has an introductory Annual Fee of $0 the first year, then $95.

Transfer Points and Redeem for Singapore Airlines

Since in general Chase doesn’t approve this card for folks who have signed up for 5 or more new card accounts in the past 24 months, it’s the first card you should apply for.

British Airways Visa Signature® Card is offering a signup bonus of up to 75,000 Avios: (offer expired)

Earn 50,000 bonus Avios after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening. Earn an additional 25,000 bonus Avios after you spend $10,000 total on purchases within your first year of account opening for a total of 75,000 bonus Avios.

If you spend $30,000 in a calendar year to earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years which can double the value of your Avios on a single redemption for 2 people.

Chase’s 5/24 reportedly does not apply.

British Airways First Class

Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard® has an offer for a limited time to earn 60,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after making $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. (Offer expired)

There’s a $0 annual fee the first year, then $95. Cardmembers receive one free checked bag and preferred boarding on American Airlines flights.

You also get 10% of your miles back (up to 10,000 rebated per calendar year) when you redeem miles.

Citibank doesn’t have a hard limit on the number of their cards you can have though of course how much credit they’ll make available for each person will vary. After you apply for one card they’ll consider another application from you 8 days later, but you can’t apply for more than 2 cards in 65 days.

Cardmembers receive one free checked bag (on domestic American Airlines itineraries for you and up to four companions traveling with you on the same reservation) and preferred boarding on American Airlines domestic itineraries.

Spending $25,000 on the card in a year will earn $3,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars. And like the personal Citi card you get 10% of your miles back (up to 10,000 rebated per calendar year) when you redeem miles.

It’s also the card with the best benefits. The value proposition here is airline lounges and elite status. It comes with Hilton Gold, Starwood Gold (matches to Marriot Gold), and National Car Rental Executive status. It gets you into Centurion lounges, Delta lounges (when flying Delta), and gives you a Priority Pass card for lounge access. There’s a $200 airline fee credit, and an Uber credit up to $200. The card earns 5 points per dollar on purchases made directly with airlines.

Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card The signup bonus for this card lets you earn 80,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. You can also earn 7,500 bonus points for adding an authorized user to the account and making a purchase within the same 3 month period. Now that Marriott points transfer to Starwood, it’s the biggest offer for Starwood points as well. The card gives you a Category 1-5 hotel free night stay every year after your account anniversary date, and 15 elite night credits just for having the product. (Offer expired)

Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN offers 50,000 Membership Rewards points after $5,000 spend on purchases with the card within your first 3 months of cardmembership. (Offer expired)

American Express Points Transfer Directly to Etihad

More From View from the Wing

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

Editorial note: any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Comments made in response to this post are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of any advertiser to ensure that questions are answered, either. Terms and limitations apply to all offers.

I have a much longer discussion of points valuations in the post I link to. Southwest points are useful in blocks equal to the number needed for a ticket, but you ultimately wind up stranding some points. And cash has a greater value than Southwest points which can be used for Southwest travel or gift cards and remember that you only get 1.4+ cents per point on Southwest travel on some flights, not all flights, those with ‘wanna get away fares’ available. So I take a few discounts relative to their potential value.

@Bob you call it hawking but I get nothing whatsoever from the Barclaycard products, I am as frustrated with availability on American itself as anyone but that’s not really how I want to use my American miles anyway (Cathay, Etihad etc) and 60,000 points easy and cheap is a great deal no matter how you look at it.

I use the mark value approach-what a willing buyer/broker will pay for them.

UA .01/point
AA .006/point
SWA .0140/point
BA no value- probably due to absurd fuel surcharges and almost no domestic availability.
I no longer collect miles and now just collect $400-500 cash signup bonuses instead and also get $600 per 200k from Merrill Edge and similar from TD Ameritrade which you can churn, $350 for a Chase Checking account etc etc. Plenty of stupid banks that will pay you to get their deposits up.
Still plenty of ways to say FU to the banks..

Hi Gary,
I’m confused why you consistently value the BA card so highly, given the well-documented difficulty in using Avios here in the U.S. I understand why you recommend the AA cards but find almost no use whatsoever for the Avios except for a one-way trip to an American Airlines hub, then fly another airline for the return (roundtrips are never available at the Saver level). Again, this works only for direct flights to hubs, as any connections will entail the use of additional Avios.

@HoustonRobert – short haul awards are still just 4500 avios outside the US. And short haul business just 2x that. That’s great intra-Asia. By the way there are no fuel surcharges for Australia domestic. It’s great intra-South America, no fuel surcharges there either. Great short haul intra-Europe. And remember you can redeem for Alaska Airlines and not just American Airlines!

Avios are more valuable if you are traveling outside the US. Inside the US if you can get flights on AA or Alaska, West Coast to Hawaii are great redemptions, as are medium range flights. For travel to Europe, transfer to Iberia and for 34,000 avios and less than $100 you can travel business class Chicago, NYC, or MIA to Madrid. 42,500 and just over $100 you can go Business class Johannesburg to Madrid.

For most short haul Europe flights cash prices are so low that for the most part it’s not worth it but there are places where with Iberia’s cash and points options you can save $70-90 by using 2,050 avios plus cash.

As Gary Leff has mentioned, intra asia and intra Australia are great uses for BA avios.

@Jim and @Gary,
Thanks! It still seems Avios uses are more theoretical than practical, as finding award space on Alaska from the west coast to Hawaii is almost impossible. The points definitely serve a niche and aren’t for the masses, but if I’m ever in Johannesburg and want to go to Madrid, look out!

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.

Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

View from the Wing is a project of Miles and Points Consulting, LLC. This site is for entertainment purpose only. The owner of this site is not an investment advisor, financial planner, nor legal or tax professional and articles here are of an opinion and general nature and should not be relied upon for individual circumstances.

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I don't include all US credit card offers available on this site. Instead, I write primarily about cards which earn airline miles, hotel points, and some cash back (or have points that can be converted into the same).

Editorial Note: The opinions, analyses, and evaluations here are mine and not provided by any bank including (but not limited to) American Express, Chase, Citibank, US Bank, Barclays or any other company. They have not reviewed, approved or endorsed what I have to say.

Comments made in response to posts are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of any advertiser to ensure that questions are answered.